Industry Reform

In January 2006 the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform and Marine Harvest Canada (MHC) completed a “Framework for Dialogue“, which among other elements, provided a process for developing collaborative research to explore questions about sea lice and the viability of closed containment aquaculture systems.

There have been some positive gains through the course of the working relationship, including negotiated safer migration routes for juvenile salmon in the Broughton Archipelago resulting in a reduction in sea-lice on wild salmon in the area. Some joint sea lice research has been launched in the Broughton Archipelago that has confirmed the benefits of the fallowing program, but this has not led to better salmon farm management at MHC farms in other areas of the coast. CAAR and MHC also launched a benefit-cost analysis comparing net-pen salmon farming to closed containment systems. A comprehensive economic model was constructed, but in January 2012 MHC cancelled the remainder of the study citing financial constraints. MHC also contracted an engineering firm to design a land-based closed containment pilot system, but cancelled the project due to a lack of funds in 2011.